


Reminders

by radiantdean



Category: SPN, Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiantdean/pseuds/radiantdean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel shows up on Lisa's doorstep unexpectedly, and Dean is there to answer the door. Between season 5 and season 6.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reminders

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you're interested, my tumblr is radiantdean :)

“Are you ready for dinner?” Lisa called back into the kitchen, placing the salad bowl in the middle of the table.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” Dean called back, wiping his hands on an old dishrag. “Do you want to go get Ben?”

“Sure,” Lisa said, passing by him as she walked through the kitchen, her hand trailing lightly over his shoulder. He could just hear her calling her son’s name up the stairs when the doorbell rang.

“I got it!” he shouted, folding the dish rag haphazardly over the handle of the oven before making his way to the front door. 

Dean grasped the doorknob without looking through the textured glass, yanking the door open.

“Hi,” he said, slightly breathless as his eyes fell on dark dress shoes. “This isn’t exactly a good time,” he continued, his eyes quickly taking in dark slacks, a tan trench coat. “Could you come back…”

He trailed off as his eyes locked on those staring back at him, bright blue, a stark, colorful comparison to the pale skin of the other man’s face.

“Hello, Dean,” Cas said gruffly, standing stiff and upright on Lisa’s front stoop.

“Cas,” Dean whispered, the word barely more than a puff of air as it brushed past his lips. “What—“

“Dean?” Lisa called out. “Who’s at the door?” she appeared by his shoulder a moment later, looking from Dean’s stunned expression to the man standing on the step. She smiled warmly, mostly out of habit, though her eyes possessed a certain air of confusion and bewilderment.

“Do you know him?” She asked when Dean still hadn’t answered.

Dean blinked a couple of times, swallowing and running a hand through his hair. “This is Cas,” he said. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the angel, and Cas’s hadn’t left Dean. “I knew him… I knew him before—“

Lisa cut him off with a hand on his shoulder, knowing that it was still difficult for Dean to talk about anything before the night he showed up on her doorstep almost six months ago.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Cas,” she said, stepping back and pulling Dean gently with her. “Why don’t you come inside? We were just about to sit down for dinner, you’re welcome to join us.”

“I don’t ea—“ Cas began, quickly cutting off when he noticed a slight shake of Dean’s head. “I’d love to,” he said, stepping up into the house.

Lisa smiled wide. “Great, we’re happy to have you,” she said, squeezing Dean’s shoulder for a moment before leaving to make sure Ben was settled in the dining room.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dean hissed, rounding on Cas the moment Lisa was out of the room. “You think you can just pop in like this? Show up out of the blue, completely uninvited?”

“Uninvited?” Cas said, furrowing his brow slightly. “I wouldn’t exactly consider myself an intruder as I have heard your prayers—“

Dean immediately clenched his jaw, his eyes practically drilling holes in Cas’s skull. “You have no right,” he said, his voice dropping to more of a growl. “To disappear for six months, leaving me with nothing but silence, and then appear out of nowhere. You can’t do shit like that, Cas.”

“I can leave.”

“No,” Dean said fiercely, grabbing Cas by the arm and dragging him into the dining room. “Lisa expects a nice dinner and that’s exactly what she’s going to get.”

The hunter pulled his chair out from the table with a bit more aggression than necessary, sitting down without looking up at the others seated across from him. Cas, by contrast, seated himself gracefully at the table, his chair close enough to Dean’s that he felt the hunter’s knee against his thigh every time it bounced.

The young, dark-haired boy was looking at Cas with wide, interesting eyes. “So who are you?” he asked flatly.

“Ben,” Lisa said softly. “Is that how we address people?”

“I’m Castiel,” Cas said, holding the boy’s gaze. “I’m an—“

“An old friend,” Dean cut in, serving himself mashed potatoes with so much force that a few splattered onto the varnished wooden table. He plopped a dollop onto Cas’s plate before handing the bowl to Ben. “He’s just blowing through town, wanted to stop by for the night.”

Ben nodded, still looking at Cas intently. He didn’t remark on the new information but was obviously enjoying this new show with dinner.

They all at in silence for a moment, Cas taking courtesy bites every time Dean kicked him lightly under the table. The angel stole glances at Dean, observing his profile, the sharp line of his jaw, his fingers that curled around his fork. He could practically feel the waves of anger radiating off this other man, wishing, more than anything, to just make it all better.

“So, Cas,” Lisa said, stabbing a couple pieces of lettuce with her fork. “What have you been up to the past few months? Dean hasn’t mentioned you.”

“I was called away,” Cas said.

“On business,” Dean added bitterly, looking up at Lisa. “Around the time, uh… you know, Cas was called away on business.”

“Amazing timing,” he added under his breath, looking down at his plate as he listlessly played with his food.

“Oh,” Lisa said, trying her best to sound interested and not discouraged by Dean’s obvious distaste. “What do you do for work, Cas?”

“I’m looking for a new career path,” Cas said, offering her a small smile. “I haven’t decided what to do yet.”

Dean looked up at him with a furrowed brow, his fork stilling above his plate. “You’re what?”

Cas looked over at him, meeting his eyes. “Yes,” he said. “My current line of work no longer seemed to be agreeing with me.”

“And you didn’t think that was something important to tell me?” Dean said, his words beginning to carry more anger than he wanted them to. “You have time to find a new career for yourself but not to answer me?”

Cas remained silent, swallowing as he watched Dean’s eyes dance with flames of anger. “I—“

“No,” Dean said shortly, standing up with his plate in his hands. He practically knocked his chair over backward. 

“I’m not hungry,” he said as he brought his plate into the kitchen, hoping the feeble excuse would at least appease Lisa until later. He reappeared in the doorway, practically glaring at Cas. “I’d like to talk to you outside.”

Cas nodded, getting to his feet and offering an apologetic smile to the small family still seated at the table before following Dean out to the front step.

“What is it?” Cas asked as Dean closed the door behind them and stepped down onto the concrete.

“What the hell is going on with you, Cas?” Dean said. “You’ve been listening to my prayers, and you can’t take a damn second to answer? You’re no longer working for heaven and you can’t drop me a line to fill me in?”

“Dean—“

“No!” Dean shouted, taking a step closer to Cas. “You healed me up in that cemetery, and I’m grateful for it, but then you left. You’ve been gone for months. You heard me, pleading with you every night to try and find a way to get Sammy back, and you couldn’t give me one goddamn word? You can’t be here, Cas! I can’t do this!”

“I don’t understand,” Cas said quietly, furrowing his brow and tilting his head as he met Dean’s eyes. “What are you unable to do?”

In an instant, Dean had curled his hands in Cas’s lapels and pulled him in, their faces only inches apart. Their breath pooled before them in the cool night air, Dean’s hands tightening in the fabric of Cas’s coat.

He took a deep breath before closing his eyes, closing the remaining distance between them and pressing his lips to Cas’s. The angel’s lips were soft, softer than Dean thought they would be, softer than his own chapped ones. They were warm, melting against the hunter’s at the smallest, most sensitive touch. Dean only allowed himself a moment of this bliss before pulling back, resting his forehead lightly against Cas’s and keeping his eyes closed. If he couldn’t see, if he couldn’t return himself to reality, this moment would never end.

“You just can’t be here, Cas,” Dean breathed. “I can’t do this. I can’t be reminded of— of before.”

Cas nodded against Dean’s forehead, only stepping back when Dean had released his coat.

“When you can,” Cas said quietly, looking into those eyes he knew better than any place on earth. “Pray. I will answer. I’ll always come when you call.”

Before Dean could answer, before Cas could hear the soft words of rejection pass Dean’s lips, he disappeared, leaving the hunter standing on the stoop of a house that didn’t feel like home, looking out into the darkness that enveloped a street that felt like wilderness, wrapping himself in a canvas jacket that didn’t feel like his.

“I will,” Dean whispered, hoping his opaque puff of breath would carry his words to the angel that needed to hear them most.


End file.
